Jehovah's Witnesses busy inviting everyone in region to convention in Tacoma
By JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTER
An elder from a local congregation, dressed in a coat and tie and bearing religious literature, was headed up the walkway of a Ballard home when a woman sketching on the porch spotted him.
"That's far enough," she called out.
Paul Joseph Brown / P-I | ||
Jehovah's Witnesses Peter Michas and Chris Mahla invite residents of a North Seattle neighborhood to the faith's upcoming convention at the Tacoma Dome. |
Learning that the visitor was a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the woman said that a previous visit by group members annoyed her: "I'm a nice person, but they pushed me to the limit."
These face-to-face encounters last week -- some hits, some misses -- marked the beginning of a massive campaign by Jehovah's Witnesses to personally invite Western Washington residents to their upcoming district convention in Tacoma next month.
The group printed enough invitations to hand out at 900,000 homes from Bellingham to Vancouver, bold and ambitious even for a religion known for its persistent door-to-door visits and divergence from certain bedrock Christian beliefs.
Though Jehovah's Witnesses annually hold district conventions around the world that are open to the general public, they usually don't seek attention. This year, that changed.
"Why now? Because we recognize how close it is to the culmination of the entire world system," said Peter Michas, the elder who encountered the Ballard woman last week.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/274437_jehovahswitnesses19.html